Mixed fortunes for Meath athletes at World Masters

Week one at World Championships in Tampere, Finland held varying fortunes for Meath athletes taking part.

Moira Groome Trim AC qualify in third place in her heat to qualify for W55 semi-final.Moira finished fifth in semi final and missed qualifying for the 100m final.

Mick Priest opted not to participate in the M70 800m and qualified easily in the M70 300m hurdles in second place in his semi-final.

Michael Cornyn ran a very strong race in the M60 800m semi final to finish in third place and qualify for his first ever World Outdoor M60 800m final last Thursday The winner of his heat was Mark Pickard from Canada who had the fastest time in the World this year for the M60 800m with Roger Reinhold from Sweden second.

Unfortunately Michael aggravated an achilles tendon injury in the race which he had picked up the previous week in a Dublin graded meet and despite some intensive treatment was advised by the Irish physio not to race in the final the following day.

A bittersweet final as Michael started the race but pulled out after only 100m.

Mark Pickard went on the the the World title in the final from David Clarke who is from Belfast representing GB and Rene Peterson of Denmark third.

Moira Groome returns to race next weekend as she is selected as one of the athletes on the Irish Relay 4x100m squad.

Mick Priest and Michael Cornyn are also listed for the Irish relay squads 4x400m which will be picked later this week.

If Michael Cornyn's injury improves he hopes to compete in the World M60 400m heats which starts this Wednesday

Mick Priest's 300m hurdles final is scheduled for Tuesday at 11.20 local time which is 9.20 am Irish time and will be streamed live from the stadium.